IT's About People

Basic Troubleshooting

Welcome to my new tip of the month! The topic today is troubleshooting, and the 3 most basic tests you can do. The best part of this is, these steps work no matter what electronics you work with, be it a computer, a printer, or your router! And here to teach you is yours truly, with the recommendations of what to do first and why. So sit down, strap in, and welcome to the RIDE!!!

Check your physical connections – This is the golden rule for IT guys. Computer won’t start? Check the connection. Can’t reach the Internet? Check the connection. Your Skype video is terrible? …..well, maybe that’s just Skype. Note this isn’t just for power cords. You can use this for the mouse no longer working (USB), your monitor flickering (loose video cable) – even the Internet problem could either be the power cord to your router or modem, or it could be any of the network cables between the modem and your computer.

Reboot – NOOOOOOOO!!!! Well, yes. That is the next step. The stranger the problem, the likelier that a reboot will fix it. Now, some common sense would be if you think it’s probably something else, try that first if it’s quick and easy. If you can’t hear sound, the first and most unobtrusive step would just be to check and make sure your sound isn’t muted. THEN check the physical connection. THEN reboot. 😀

Divide and conquer – The more you know it isn’t, the closer you will be to what it is. If you’re not getting sound to your computer, you already know that it’s not your router. But consider a couple of quick questions:

Is the light to the speakers on? If not, then it doesn’t have anything to do with the PC

Is it plugged in? If so, then at least you know it’s not something simple like hooking it back up.

These questions can go on and on, but the main idea here is that the more you can eliminate (and the faster you can do it – hence why us IT guys are still useful :D), the more confident you are that the speaker is broken, or maybe the PC doesn’t like your speakers anymore and you need someone to help you dig deeper.

There are other great tips when it comes to troubleshooting, but that’s it for this month!

See you next time!

Have you been troubleshooting everything yourself for months or even years, and you grabbed onto this tip like it was a life preserver? You may want to start delegating – email us below to ask for a free intro IT consultation!